Sunday, 30 March 2014

Well this past week hasn’t been all that interesting, just
classes and homework, the usual. Last weekend we were in Stratford-upon-Avon
for about 24 hours, which was fun! I’ve been there before, so it wasn’t super
exciting. We got there on March 21st in time for dinner at our
B&B before heading to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to see Henry IV Part 1!
The play was AMAZING. The set was fantastic, the actors were awesome,
everything was just so high quality. Walking out of the theatre, I thought to
myself, “now that’s how theatre is
done.” The actor who played Hotspur was probably my favorite, he just played
the character so well and was so passionate. All the actors were so passionate!
It was a great show. Some of our group went to a pub after, and saw a couple of
the actors there! I was too tired from my Polish party the other night to go
out, but I’m sure it was awesome.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day walking around and
visiting Shakespeare’s Houses. The exhibition leading to Shakespeare’s
Birthplace was pretty cool, and in the courtyard outside the birthplace there
was a woman who could perform Shakespeare scenes/sonnets on demand! That was
awesome, it’s real talent to be able to do that. Next we saw Shakespeare and
his family’s grave in Holy Trinity Church, then saw Hall Croft and Nash’s
House/New Place. None of them were super fantastic on their own, but it was
nice to visit them and say I’d been there. Kailey, Kula and I had a nice lunch
in a café and spent the rest of our time wandering around Stratford.

Shakespeare's Birthplace

Shakespeare's grave in Holy Trinity Church

Again, this week hasn’t been super interesting. Next week is
the last week of official classes for my history class, so things are winding
down for break. I’ve spent a ton of time (and money) planning my spring break,
since I’ll be traveling for another month. It’ll be a great trip/month/break I
know, but right now it just seems like so much work! So much to finalize and so
much to plan! We’re finishing up with our Luther-related class (Bob’s Class)
and presenting our final projects on Tuesday. It’ll be nice to get that stuff
done before break.

On Tuesday we went to our first football game and watched
Nottingham Forest get shit on by Charlton. We lost 1-0, and it was a rough
game. Forest had fired their manager the day before, so it was going to be a bit brutal.
I cheered on my new official #1 Football Crush, Jamie Paterson, but Forest lost
anyway. Wednesday I was in London for the day, dropping off stuff for my
Russian travel visa. It only took me 20 minutes though, so I spent a good 2 ½ hours
at the Tower of London, just hanging out.

At the Nottingham Forest game!

Yesterday (March 29th) I was in Manchester for
the day. I met up with my friend Ashley from Polish class, who lives near
Manchester, who took me around for the day. My first stop and the number one
reason to go to Manchester: Taco Bell.

The best day of my life

My Taco Bell radar has never served me wrong, and I sensed
where it was in the Arndale Center before Ashley could point me in the right
direction. It was an amazing moment. It has been 6 months (our longest
separation!), so I was looking forward to it more than ever. It did not
disappoint. I got a bean burrito (classic!) and since they didn’t have cinnamon
twists (only some weirdass Mexican fries) or soft tacos (wtf?!) I got a cheesy
fiesta pocket. It was basically a quesadilla with the gross nacho cheese folded
in half. My bean burrito, however, was exquisite.

My first bean burrito in 6+ months!

After I enjoyed my greatest meal since September 9th,
Ashley and I went to the John Rylands Library, which was so gorgeous! It’s this
huge library (I think it’s used by the University of Manchester? Maybe?) with so
many old books, it was so quiet and wonderful and I loved it. What a beautiful
place.

Historic Reading Room in John Rylands Library

Then we wandered around, hit up the Manchester Museum (pretty cool but a
bit too kid-oriented for me) and the Museum of Science and Industry (not that
cool and too kid-oriented for me), before getting back to Manchester Piccadilly
Station where I headed back to Notts. There are tons of museums in Manchester
(and most of the are free!) but honestly, I really didn’t want to cram stuff
into my day. I needed to spend as much time as possible savoring my Taco Bell.

This week will definitely be different from last week! My
best friend Evan/Ivan/Vanya will be arriving tomorrow and I am so SO excited to
see him!!! We’ll be hanging out around Notts (and I have class) the first few
days, then going to London for two days (he’ll get my tour, and then I’ll go on
an adventure to Hever Castle for one of the days), before a few more days in
Notts. I have so many bars/clubs/pubs to take him to here, and so many places
to explore together! And then after that, one last week of Polish class and
then spring break! This year has gone so crazy fast, I can’t believe it’s close to being over!

Thursday, 20 March 2014

Well, it’s safe to say that this last week has been one of
the most stressful weeks of my life. I came back from a great trip to Holland
to tons of commitments and things to do. Last Wednesday I started my 3000-word
essay, managed to have a solid draft done by Friday, and submitted it
yesterday. They are so high-maintenance about essays here, besides submitting a
version online, you have to turn in two paper copies to a special drop box,
both with a coversheet that has the exact word count and all sorts of
information on it. Too much work.

This last Friday we finally found out our exam dates for the
spring, which has been stressing me out like crazy. Since I found out I was
accepted into Luther’s Nottingham program, my plan has always been to go to
Russia for the last two weeks after my spring exams, before I go back to
Minneapolis for the summer. Exams start on May 19 and go until June 6. This
semester, I’ll be writing an additional 4000-word essay instead of sitting the
exam for my history class, which is nice not to have to worry about that quite
yet. Unfortunately, I have my Polish exam on June 5, which sincerely fucked up
my plans.

After finding out that there is no possible way for me to
take my Polish exam early, on Tuesday I finally got my shit together and bought
all my plane tickets. I’ll be heading back to the 612 come June 22, a grave
error since I just realized today that, since June 22 is a Sunday, liquor
stores will be closed in MN!!! This is a terrible travesty, since my first stop
home from the airport was going to be East Lake Liquor, so I could buy my first
ever legal 6-pack of Nordeast. I’ll probably be too jetlagged to drive to
Hudson and buy some booze on my first 21+ day in the US, so my first ever legal
alcohol purchase will have to wait until Monday morning. Life’s not fair. I’ll
be coming back so late in the summer, but there’s really not much I can do
about it. In some ways I think it’ll be good, since I’ll be able to really
enjoy the last of my time here in England.

Besides my plane ticket home, I also finally bought my
tickets to Russia. I’ll be flying to Moscow on June 7, and then flying back to London
from St. Petersburg on June 20. This will be the most nerve-wracking but
exciting solo trip of my life!!! There are a lot of things that are out of my
control, particularly everything that has been happening in Ukraine/the Crimea.
Things like that are so unpredictable, it’s really impossible to tell what the
situation will be like by the time I’m going to Russia. I’ve accepted that by
the time I’m leaving, it might be seriously unsafe for me to go, or I might not
be allowed to travel there. These are both possibilities that I have
considered, and if I blow money on a trip that might not happen, that’s a risk
I’m willing to take. Russia is it for me: it’s the dream. Russia is my dream. I
can’t really even imagine what it will like when I’m finally there, hanging out
in the Kremlin and walking down the staircase in the Hermitage. It’s the dream.

I’ve had a lot of people either tell me not to
go/essentially try to scare me out of traveling to Russia by myself as a woman.
But I refuse to let “being a woman” stop me from following my dream. Not to
turn this trip into a battle of Maja vs. The Patriarchy, but there are women in
Russia who walk around by themselves every day. There are probably even women
in Russia who aren’t Russian who walk around by themselves every day! I have
gained indispensable experience as an independent female traveler this year,
and my trip to Russia will just require more caution than my other solo trips.
If I didn’t think I could do it, I really wouldn’t be going.

Okay, I’m pretty much done justifying why I should be
allowed to go for my dreams. All this being said, I really appreciate love and
support as I get ready for this trip and as I follow my dream! Since I have to
have a visa to go to Russia (and have to be invited to apply for the visa),
this trip is already more stressful than most. I’m kind of under a time limit,
since I have to have it all figured out and have my passport back by the time I
leave for my month of traveling over spring break, which is April 11. Hopefully
the process will go smoothly and I can get my visa/passport without any major
problems! Prayers and good thoughts for a peaceful solution with the situation
in Ukraine/the Crimea wouldn’t hurt either. There are so many things in the
world we can’t control, but positive energy is always possible.

Now that I’ve finally had a few days in Notts, I’ve been
able to catch up on homework and start seriously planning out my spring break.
Tomorrow we leave on a flat trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, which I think will be really
fun. Then I have one more week until my best friend comes to visit me! And then
once he leaves, only a few more days before my next month of travel! I can’t
believe how fast the time has gone. Just a few more months until I’m back home
in the 612!

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

I am finally back in Nottingham after three consecutive
weekends of traveling, I am exhausted and crabby and stressed but so happy to
be home! It’ll be the first time that I’ll be in Nottingham for 10+ days in a
while, so it’s nice to have time to relax. LOL just kidding I have to write a
10-page essay that’s worth half my grade by next Wednesday, so it’s crunch
time. I also need to seriously start figuring out my spring break plans, since
as of today we leave in a month and I have absolutely nothing booked. All this
on top of the fact that on Friday we find out our exam dates, so not only do I
have to buy my plane ticket home to the great 612 (which will also determine
when I start work this summer), I also need to figure out everything for my
Russia trip, aka mainly figuring out how to get my travel visa and everything.

So I’m pretty stressed out right now, and I should be
writing my essay but instead I thought I’d procrastinate a bit more.

I had an awesome trip to Holland this past week! I flew out
of London Stansted to Amsterdam on Wednesday, which was fine except that
Stansted is about a 5-hour bus ride for me from Nottingham. So I was at the bus
station by 7:00am and, of course, obscenely early for my 15:10 flight. My first
time flying EasyJet was a success, I was worried they’d try to make me cram my
backpack into the little crate thing but they didn’t. My flight was only 40
minutes, which was awesome! It was a bit confusing getting on the right train
from the airport to Amsterdam Central station, all the trains seemed to leave
from different platforms and I kept missing them. But it was a short train ride
and I made it in the end!

There are three things Amsterdam is proud of: its beer, its
weed, and its prostitutes. I walked out of the train station and BOOM all of a
sudden I got hit with this wave of weed smell. My hostel was super close to the
train station so I didn’t have far to walk. I had a really nice time walking
around the city that night, just exploring and seeing what Amsterdam was like!
I really have no idea where all I walked, Amsterdam is super curvy and after a
while all the canals looked the same. I also ended up in the Red Light
District, I didn’t realize that’s where I was until I looked over and there was
a prostitute in the doorway. Oops.

Thursday I set off early in the morning to see the Anne
Frank House, one of the main things I wanted to do in Amsterdam. The queue is
notoriously long, but it took me less than 20 minutes to get in. It honestly
was really emotional and very depressing being there. You walk through the
whole house, through the moving bookcase and through the empty rooms in the
Secret Annexe (Otto Frank wanted the rooms left empty of furnishings). At the
end, the tour goes through the stories of the people hiding in the Secret
Annexe—all of them died except Otto Frank, Anne’s father. It was really, really
sad. Anne Frank’s actual diary is on display, as well as certain pages from all
her notebooks. I cried a lot. I first read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was in 6th grade, and it was
pretty astounding to see how one girl’s story could captivate the entire world.

After I finished crying, I set off to see more of Amsterdam.
I walked to the Rijksmuseum, which is in a magnificent building, with a park on
the other end. It was 15 euro and the queues were horrendous, so I decided not
to go in. I walked around Vondelpark, which is simply huge and really pretty.
It was really relaxing being there, by this point I think I had managed to learn
how not to get hit by bicyclists. I have
literally never seen so many bikes in my life. Everyone bikes. It’s crazy.

Outside the Rijksmuseum with the Iamsterdam sign!

My next stop was the other main thing I wanted to see in
Amsterdam: the Heineken Brewery. The tour is really expensive (18 euro) but definitely worth it. First,
the tour takes you through a history of the company and its founders, and
through the brewing process on this cart thing that moves (kind of like a
ride). After that, you get your first tasting session, and thanks to answering
the guy’s questions right (Q: What does it smell like? A: Hops. Q: How does
that taste? A: Good.), I got extra beers! What what?!?! Then you can lie down
and watch Heineken commercials from 1955, and at the end finally you get your
beer. I chose to pour my own pint, so I’m now an officially certified Heineken
pourer! The certificate will go with my Jameson one :)

Happy 150th Birthday, Heineken!

I walked around some more, saw a guy doing head spinning as
part of street dancing, then headed back to my hostel and had a great resting
period and a shower. I met this kid who had just dropped out of uni in
Nottingham (Trent), and he and I went to a coffeeshop and smoked and drank and
then got kebabs. He was a pretty cool guy, probably stoned the entire time I
was around him, but nice.

On Friday, I checked out of my hostel and headed to the top
floor of the public library of Amsterdam for a really nice view of the city
(thanks for the tip, Makoto!). I really didn’t have too much else I really
wanted to do, but I saw the flower market, then got some amazing waffles at
this other market, and sat in Remembrandtplein watching tourists take pictures
with the statues. I saw the theatre that was formally the place of deportation
for the Jews in Amsterdam in WWII and the Newmarket, and then headed to the hostel
to get my bag and headed to the train station to catch my train to Eindhoven.

I was in Eindhoven to meet up with two of my friends, Nick
and Rens, and I had such a blast with them! I met them when I was in Latvia and
they invited me to hang out with them if I get to Holland. Friday night was
awesome, for anyone who cares I would definitely recommend partying in
Eindhoven. All the bars and clubs are conveniently located on the same street,
and none of them have a cover charge! We had such an awesome time and didn’t
get back until 4 in the morning, but it was definitely worth it.

Saturday we were all tired and feeling lazy, so we ate
breakfast late and then went to a park and laid in the grass. The weather was
literally AMAZING. I wore jeans and a tank top and I was totally fine. The sun
was shining, there were flowers blooming, it was spring and I was loving it.
Sucks to suck, everyone who’s in Minnesota right now! I left Sunday early
afternoon from the airport in Eindhoven, Nick and Rens dropped me off at the
airport and after waiting for 1. My delayed plane and 2. My bus that was late,
I made it back to Notts safe and sound but totally exhausted!

I also have great news, one of my best friends from school,
Vanya (real name not Russian name: Evan) is going to be coming to visit me in
Nottingham starting on March 31! I am so, SO excited to see him and hang out
with him! We haven’t seen each other since Nordic Fest at the end of July, and
I miss him a lot. He’s in St. Petersburg for the semester, and so I can’t wait
to hear all about Russia from him in person! Our reunion is long-overdue, so
get ready Nottingham we’re taking over. Okay, time to work on my essay and
figure out spring break plans and stress out about my Russian travel visa and
get my life together!

Monday, 3 March 2014

How the hell is it already March?! Where did the time go??
Things have been crazy busy for me the last couple weeks, and I honestly think
it’ll be just as insane up until spring break. I had a daytrip to Durham, flat
trip to Hadrian’s Wall and York over the weekend, and on Wednesday morning I’m
leaving for another long weekend to Holland!

Thursday: I went to Durham and had the wonderful company of
Sarah for my 6-hour total train trip. I’ve been wanting to go to Durham for
ages, mainly because of the cathedral. In Bill Bryson’s book, Notes From a
Small Island, he goes to Durham and says
this:

“I got off at Durham, intending to
poke around the cathedral for an hour or so, and fell in love with it
instantly, in a serious way… I couldn’t believe that not once in twenty years
had anyone said to me, “You’ve never been to Durham? Good God, man, you must go
at once! Please—take my car.” So let me say it now: If you have never been to
Durham, go at once. Take my car. It’s wonderful.”

So ever since that I read that I’ve been wanting to go.

I knew Durham would be good, I just didn’t know it would be that good. We literally had the most perfect weather
possible, all sun, no rain, just a bit of wind, blue skies. Unbelievable. The
cathedral is at the top of the town and Sarah and I walked along the river to
get up there. We looked up and saw it and both started laughing because it was
so beautiful. I started crying and Sarah started crying and we walked along the
river crying and laughing. It was wonderful.

Durham Cathedral and Castle overlooking the river

Finally FINALLY at Durham Cathedral!

The cathedral was well worth the money on the train tickets
and the 6-hour trip there and back. It is simply magnificent—two smaller towers
at the front and then one main tower at the crossing in the nave. Besides
housing the shrine of Saint Cuthbert, the cathedral also has the grave of the 7th/8th
century monk and historian Bede. And on top of all of this, Durham Cathedral
was used in filming scenes from Harry Potter 1 and 2! The Chapter House (which
was closed, and I’m pretty sure I broke the handle) was used as Professor
McGonagall’s classroom in HP 1. The Cloisters were used as the setting of the
Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch confrontation in HP 2, where Ron’s curse
backfired and he started throwing up slugs (no, I did not find any slugs).
Sarah and I also climbed the tower of the cathedral (375 stairs up!) and got
some pretty amazing views of the surrounding area.

Perfect place for Ron to belch some slugs

View from the top of the tower

We got a tour of Durham Castle once we were cathedral-ed
out, which is now used by Durham University. There are some lucky students who
get to live in the castle as their student accommodation! I will be putting in
a word to Luther about installing medieval castles for the next round of dorm
renovations. After that, it was 3 hours back on the train to Notts!

Our flat trip to Hadrian’s Wall and York left at 7:30am on
Friday morning. I was unamused. It was a 4-hour drive up to Housesteads Roman
Fort on the Wall. Again, it was a beautiful day—legit the perfect weather. I
didn’t really believe in fate or destiny or that kind of shit, but after this
weekend I think I have to. I got three days of the best weather possible for my
trips, and if I ever needed proof that England truly loved me, I have it now.
It’s like they knew I was coming.

The area around the Wall was gorgeous—green fields, hidden
lakes, rolling hills, everything. Hadrian’s Wall really is a superhuman feat of
Roman strength. It’s unbelievable how long it is and how much work they put
into constructing it. It really is the last frontier of the Roman Empire. I was
the first of our group to set off, and had a really good hard walk along the
wall. I had some staring contests with sheep and almost fell in mud several
times, but it was great nonetheless. The scenery is something I’ll never
forget!

From there we spent more time on the bus back to York, got
settled into our hotel, I took a shower, and then a couple of us went to a pub
for dinner. My bacon cheeseburger was amazing. I’m still dreaming about it.

Saturday: The morning was spent at Fountains Abbey, some of
the most spectacular abbey ruins I’ve ever seen. Fountains Abbey was found to
be quite corrupt by Cromwell’s surveyors in the Dissolution of the Monasteries,
so after the abbot took a large pension and surrendered the abbey, they
basically ripped the roof off of this magnificent structure to ensure the monks
wouldn’t come back. I just walked around crying, I really don’t know why. It
was just so beautiful and so haunting. The grounds at Fountains Abbey are
gorgeous as well, so I had a great time walking around and exploring all the
different places. We had gorgeous weather again, since England loves me. It was
so nice to be there in the morning, before a lot of the people came, when it
just seemed so quiet and deserted.

Fountains Abbey

We had a free afternoon back in York, so I went to the Micklegate
Bar Museum (the top floor focuses on the Wars of the Roses, which I thought was
super interesting. Also, fun fact: Richard, Duke of York, was killed in 1460
and his head was set on a pike on Micklegate Bar in York. Supposedly someone
put a paper crown on his head as well). I spent the rest of the time walking
around the city walls, which was great! The walls are so old, leftover from the
Romans, and give a nice view of the city. That night we had a play in York, and
afterwards a couple of us went to a pub. After the first pub, Kula, Jacob and I
went to a bar in an old church! Two of my favorite things! Old church buildings
and drinking! What what!!

Sunday we had another free morning in York before finally going to York Minster. I wandered around the city
more, went to Barley Hall (done as a museum on 15th-16th
century life in York), went to York Minster for the 11:30 service, and then met
up with the group again. York Minster (the cathedral) is second only in
importance to Canterbury as the top Archbishopric in England. It is one of the
top cathedrals in England, and has the largest medieval stained glass
collection in Europe. Of course, that stained glass collection was under
construction when I was there. From the Disneyland Castle circa 2004 to York
Minster in 2014, it’s always under construction when I go. Assholes.

The cathedral is great, it has a large stained glass window
(destroyed by fire in 1984 and painstakingly replaced piece by piece
afterwards) commemorating the marriage of Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York and
the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York, a beautiful Chapter House (with
beautiful stained glass windows), and a large row of statues depicting the
Kings of England up until Henry VI. We climbed the tower (only 275 steps, super
easy compared to Durham), which gave amazing views of the city, but it was
windy as hell and I was cold. My favorite part was probably the crypt, which
has an exhibition on the history of the buildings on the spot. They’ve
excavated the remains of the Roman fort, as well as the Norman building. The
Roman part even has a creek that is still fully functional and bringing water
to the river! What! Shit was crazy!

York Minster

Stained glass in the Chapter House

Post-cathedral we got on the bus and headed back to Notts.
It was a super busy weekend, but so worth it. And now, after Durham and York, I
only have one major cathedral left to
see in England!!! Gloucester, I’m coming for you. Once I see that one, I’ll
have to finally decide which one is my favorite! It’ll be a tough choice,
that’s for sure. Now I’ve got another day here in Notts, and then headed off to
Holland early Wednesday morning! Here’s to the next week of adventure!